Fluid dispenser



June 26, 1962 Filed Nov. 4, 1957 N. K. STENBERG 3,040,774

FLUID DISPENSER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I.

INVENTOR.

NYYRIKKI K. STENBERG BZWMYW ATTORNEYS June 26, 1962 N. K. STENBERG3,040,774

FLUID DISPENSER Filed Nov. 4, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 3

INVENTOR.

NE YRIKKI K. STENBERG ATTORNEYS 3,040,774 FLUID DTSPENSER Nyyriidd K.Stenberg, Roslyn, Pa, assignor to Fischer & Porter Company, Hatboro, Pa,a corporation oi Pennsylvania Filed Nov. 4, 1%7, Ser. No. 694,229 12(Ilaims. (Cl. 137564.5)

This invention relates to a fluid dispenser. More particularly, itrelates to a device for admixing an additive fluid to a main stream offluid.

The device in accordance with this invention can be used, for example,to add relatively small quantities. of a chlorine solution such assodium hypochlorite to a water supply line. There is great need for sucha device in the field of home water supply systems where there is apossibility that the source of water may be contaminated. Similarly,other additives such as fluorides can readily be introduced to a watersupply line by the structure provided by this invention.

The dispenser of this invention is particularly advantageous due to thesimplicity of its construction and the simplicity and effectiveness ofits operation. The additive fluid can readily be introduced to thedispenser without the necessity for any disassembly. As the flow of themain stream of fluid increases, the rate of introduction of the additivefluid increases. Effective operation is achieved without the danger ofthe dispenser becoming plugged.

These and other advantages of the dispenser in accordance with thisinvention will become obvious from a reading of the followingdescription in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical section through a dispenser in accordance withthis invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the dispenser of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal section taken on the plane indicated by thelines 33 in FIGURE 1.

Referring to FIGURES 1 through 3, a dispenser 2 in accordance with thisinvention has a body 4 having a passage 6 adapted to carry a stream offluid such as, for example, water. An inlet pipe 7 and a discharge pipe8 are threadably connected to body 4 for the introduction and withdrawalof fluid, respectively, to and from passage 6.

A diagonal gate partition 9 extends upwardly from the bottom of passage6 to a point above pipes 7 and 8. A

gate 19 has a downwardly extending pin 12 which engages a correspondingopening 14- in partition 9. Base 16 of gate rests on the top ofpartition 9 and has a cutaway portion indicated at 13 which, whenspanning partition 9, permits the flow of fluid through passage 6.

Gate 14} has a head 20 with a key slot 22 to facilitate the turning ofgate 10 so as to adjust the cutaway portion 18 to vary the rate of flowof fluid through passage 6.

A cap 24- has an opening 26 which embraces head 20 and is secured tobody 4 by means of screws 28. The joint between cap 24 and body 4 ismade fluid tight by means of a ring gasket 30. Similarly, fluidtightness between cap 24 and gate 10 is assured by ring gaskets 32 andsheet gasket 34.

It will be appreciated that the rate of flow of fluid through chamber '6is readily controlled by means of the proper positioning of gate 10. Itwill further be noted r e- EC that gate 16 causes a pressure drop whichwill vary as the square of the flow.

Body 4 is additionally provided with an aspirator passage 40 having apassage portion 42 leading from passage 6, a throat portion 44 and aflared portion 46. Aspirator passage it; is controlled by a valvestructure indicated at 47. Valve structure 47 has a valve seat member 48which provides a valve seat at 50 which has overlying it a valve gasket52 against which a valve 54 is seated. A ring gasket 56 seals valve seatmember 48 to body 4- and the seat member is held in position by means ofscrews 58.

Valve 54 is attached to a stem 69 which, in turn, is secured to a knob62 by means of a screw 64. A compression coil spring 66 surrounds stem60 and has its ends abutting against knob 62 and a gasket 68 which isseated against valve seat member 48. Spring 66 acts to bias valve 54into the closed position. When knob 62 is pushed inwardly against spring66, fluid can discharge through aspirator passage 4i into passage 76 invalve seat member 48 and thence into passage 72 formed in body 4 and outto the atmosphere.

A casing member '76 is bolted to body 4 through flange 78 by means ofbolts indicated at 30 and together with body 4- forms a chamber. Agasket 82 is employed to make the connection between member '76 and body4 fluid tight. Flange 78, at its inner edge, engages an enlarged annularrim 82 of an expandible and contractible diaphragm 84 of, for example,resilient material such as rubber or polyethylene and which, as shown inFIGURE 1, is in the form of a bellows. The exterior of diaphragm 84 isin fluid communication with passage 6 by means of a cutout portion 86 atthe inner edge of flange 78 and a passage indicated at 83 in body 4connecting the throat 44 of aspirator passage 40 to the lower face ofbody 4. The diaphragm 84 separates the chamber formed by casing member'76 and body 4 into two separate portions, one of which portions, aswill be evident, acts as a reservoir for the additive fluid.

Body 4 has a downwardly extending partial ring mem ber 92 which lieswithin diaphragm 84 and acts to limit the upward travel of the diaphragm84. Member 92 surrounds a thirnble-shaped porous plug 94 and is securedby a pressed fit in an opening 96 in body 4. The plug 94 may be anyporous material having pores capillary in nature and being suitablyresistant to corrosion by the fluids employed, for example, porousceramic ware such as of unglazed porcelain, aluminum oxide, silicondioxide, other porous stones and carborundum. A passage 98 in body 4connects the downstream side of passage 6 to opening and the interior ofplug 94.

In order to fill the interior of diaphragm 84 with the additive fluid,for example, sodium hypochlorite, body! is provided with a passage mewhich runs through an upper extension member 104- Which is adapted toreceive a hose 196. As shown, the hose 1% leads downwardly to anon-transparent open topped container 10% containing the desired fluid,the hose 106 being immersed in the fluid. As shown in FIGURE 1,container 108 has been reduced in size disproportionately in order topermit it being shown.

Adjacent the lower end of passage 102, body 4 has concentric sealingrings 110, 112 and 114. Sealing ring 112 extends downwardly beyond ring114 and, in turn, ring extends downwardly beyond ring 112. A checkPatented June 26, 1962 3 valve 116 of a resilient material such asrubber is seated on a flange 118 which is provided with openings 12% forthe passage of a fluid. After filling, the fluid Within diaphragm 84forces check valve 116 upwardly first against ring 110 and thensuccessively against rings 112 and 114 as the pressure increases.

As shown in FIGURE 2, body 4 is provided with a vent opening 124 whichleads downwardly to the interior of diaphragm 84. A removable plug 126is used to block opening 124.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the bulk of the dispenser can be formed ofsynthetic resins such as suitably rigid polyviuylchloride, phenolic orrubber base styrene resins. Similarly, metals such as stainless steelcan be employed. The materials will, as a practical matter, be selectedfor convenience of manufacture and depending on the fluids to be used.

Operation:

With a stream of fluid, for example water, flowing into passage 6 frompipe 7, knob 62 is forced inwardly to move valve 54 off its seat andpermit fluid to flow through aspirator passage 40 and to the atmospherethrough passages 70 and '72. The flow of fluid through aspirator passage40 causes a reduction in pressure at the exterior surface of diaphragm84 incident to the fluid connection provided by cutout portion 86 inflange '78 and passage 88. This results in the expansion of diaphragm 84which, in turn, causes a reduction of pressure within diaphragm 84 andfluid to flow from container 108 through tube 106, passage 1G2, openings120 and into the interior of diaphragm S4. During this operation porousplug 94 prevents any appreciable amount of liquid from passing frompassages 6 and 98 into the interior of diaphragm 84.

7 It is to be understood that the time required for filling diaphragm 84is in the order of minutes, whereas, it takes several weeks for theadditive to flow through plug 94 by capillary action and itno passage 6.When the interior of diaphragm S4 is adequately filled, knob 62 isreleased permittingspring 66 to seat valve 54. .The pressure of thefluid within diaphragm 8'4 exerted against check valve 116 causes it tobe urged against one or more of rings 110, 112 and '114. After thefilling operation, it is desirable to vent airfrom the upper portion ofthe interior of diaphragm 84 by loosening plug 126.

As fluid flows through passage 6 at a rate con-trolled by gate 10, thereis, as previously pointed out, a pressure drop across gate 10. Thehigher pressure of the upstream side of gate'lll is exerted throughpassage 49, passage 88 and cutout portion'86 against the outer surfaceof diaphragm 84. This causes diaphragm 84 to force fluid through plug 94and into the downstream side of passage 6 against the lower pressure ofthe downstream side of passage 6. Since the pressure drop across gate 10varies as the square of the flow while the flow through plug 94 is morenearly linear with the pressure drop, the additive fluid will besupplied at a slightly higher dosage for large rates of flow than forsmall rates of flow. This is advantageous since a higher rate of flow ofthe main stream of fluid results in the fluid remaining in the systemfor a shorter period of time.

It is not desired to be limited except as set forth in the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:

l. A dispenser for supplying an additive fluid to a main stream of fluidwhich comprises: a body having a passage for carrying a main stream offluid and means in said passage for providing a pressure drop, a chamberadjacent said body, a diaphragm separating said chamber into a reservoirportion for containing an additive fluid and a second portion, saidreservoir portion being in fluid communication with said passage on thedownstream side of said means, and a porous plug having pores capillaryin 'nature separating said reservoir portion and said passage,

said second portion being in fluid communication with the passage on theupstream side of said means.

2. A dispenser in accordance with claim 1 in which the plug is aporcelain plug.

3. A dispenser for supplying an additive fluid to a main stream of fluidwhich comprises: a body having a passage for carrying a main stream offluid and gate means in said passage for providing a pressure drop, adiaphragm having aninterior side and an exterior side, the interior sideforming with the body a reservoir for an additive fluid which is influid communication with said passage on the downstream side of the gatemeans, a porous plug having pores capillary in nature positioned betweenthe said reservoir and the passage and a casing surrounding thediaphragm, the exterior side of the diaphragm being in fluidcommunication with said passage on the upstream side of the gate.

4. A dispenser in accordance with claim 3 in which the plug is aporcelain plug.

5. A dispenser for supplying an additive fluid to a main stream of fluidwhich comprises: a body having a passage for carrying a main stream offluid and a gate in said passage for providing a pressure drop, meansforming a chamber adjacent said body, a diaphragm separating saidchamber into a reservoir portion for containing an additive fluid and asecond portion, said reservoir portion being in fluid communication withsaid passage on the downstream side of the gate, and a porous plughaving pores capillary in nature separating said reservoir portion andsaid passage, said body having an aspirator passage having a throat andhaving its inlet end connected to the first mentioned passage upstreamof said gate, a valve in said aspirator passage downstream of saidthroat, a third passage leading from said throat to the second portionof said chamber, a fourth passage for the admission of said additivefluid into the reservoir portion of said chamber responsive to areduction in pressure produced by the flow of fluid said aspiratorpassage and a valve controlling said fourth passage to prevent thedischarge of fluid therethrough.

6. A dispenser in accordance with claim 5 in which the plug is aporcelain plug.

7. A dispenser in accordance with claim 5 in which the plug isthimble-shaped having its open end in communication with the passageadapted to carry a main stream of fluid.

8. A dispenser in accordance with claim 7 in which the plug is aporcelain plug.

9. A dispenser forsupplying an additive fluid to a main stream of fluidwhich comprises: a body having a passage for carrying a main stream offluid and a gate in said passage for providing a pressure drop, :1diaphragm having an interior side and an exterior side, said interiorside forming with the body a reservoir for an additive fluid which isinfluid communication with said passage on the'downstream side of thegate, a porous plug having pores capillary in nature between theinterior of the diaphragm and the passage and a casing surrounding thediaphragm, said body having an aspirator passage having a throat andhaving its inlet end connected to the first mentioned passage upstreamof said gate, a valve in said aspirator passage downstream of saidthroat and a third passage leading from said throat to the exterior sideof said diaphragm, a fourth passage for the admission of said additivefluid into said reservoir responsive to a reduction in pressure producedby the flow of fluid in said aspirator passage and a valve controllingsaid fourth passage to prevent the discharge of fluid therethrough.

10. A dispenser in accordance with claim 9 in which the plug is aporcelain'plug.

, 11. A dispenser in accordancewith claim 9 in which the plug isthimble-shaped having its open end in communication with the passageadapted to carry a main stream of fluid.

12. A dispenser in accordance with claim 11 in which the plug is aporcelain plug.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS PaineDec. 15, 1936 6 McGill July 9, 1943 Sheets Mar. 25, 1947 Clarkson July18, 1950 White et a1. June 17, 1952 Mills Nov. 18, 1952 Klosse Apr.12,1960

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain July 29, 1953

